


Born to love you

by Sam_accidentally_fell_into_fandom_hell



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Like really really slow, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please be nice, Possible smut, Slow Burn, This is the first work I've decided to publish, all the cliches, cheesy as all hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-11-23 23:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18158381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_accidentally_fell_into_fandom_hell/pseuds/Sam_accidentally_fell_into_fandom_hell
Summary: Roger is sent to boarding school to better his grades.He absolutely hates the idea, but he has to go anyways.But things lighten up immensely after meeting the guys that he will have to share a room with.They become good friends in a short period of time and Roger is really happy, but let's be honest, this is the high school age, a lot of teenage angst starts to get in the way and of course, who would have thought...crushes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,  
> Nice to have you here :)  
> This is the first work of mine that I've decided to publish and I'm still quite insecure about my writing.  
> So if you read this story, I'd definitely appreciate some feedback, because I really aspire to become better.  
> Writing is something that I really love so I hope, I can share some enjoyment through this.
> 
>  
> 
> Also:  
> This story is supposed to take place in England, but since the British system of education confuses me and doesn't fit the ages that I want the characters to be in this story, I've decided to use the American system.  
> I hope you don't mind.

Roger stared out of the window of the driving bus, seeing landscapes pass by. The last sign of any city was approximately half an hour ago and they still weren’t even close to their destination yet, from what he could tell of the time he had been in that bus to the time that had been said would be needed to reach the expensive boarding school his parents had signed him up to. They were convinced he needed better grades since they wanted him to go to college. Roger didn’t really want to do that though; he’d rather do music or something that was more interesting than sitting in a study hall all day long. But since he was his parents only child and he did not want to disappoint them, he went with it. Not that he had much of a choice because when his parents told him about this idea, they had already signed him up for that boarding school. And that wasn’t even the worst part… Their family was anything but wealthy and this school was really expensive, they had spent a fortune for his education and Roger couldn’t even appreciate it. He felt horribly guilty about that. He tried to think of some nicer things, as he saw the dark, shady parts of a mystic looking pine forest pass by, only scarcely lit by a few rays of sunshine that managed to break through the thick dark needles and branches that were blocking the sky. The other kids on the bus were chatting animatedly, they knew each other, they knew where they were going. Quite contrary to Roger, who normally was a social butterfly, but in this situation on a long drive into uncertainty, where the bus he was on seemed to get smaller by the second, he couldn’t bring himself to talk to anyone or try at least. He was going to have enough time for that when he arrived right? The students had already stared at him enough when they first saw him entering the bus.  
Since he wasn’t a fifth grader, he had to get on to the bus with all the other tenth graders he would be studying with. They, of course, had most likely known each other since they first entered the school and there he was, destroying the order their grade had been in, making everything so unbearably different in their lives. That’s at least how most of them had looked at him, as he had insecurely staggered to a seat that was still free. The one next to him had stayed empty for a while, leaving him to hope that maybe he could sit alone on this long drive, not really wanting to put up with anyone, even if it was just sharing a seat. But then a teen, not much taller or older looking than him sat down next to him, his friend to which he had been talking sat in front of them, leaving the fluffy haired teen next to him, quiet and smiling fondly with a straight-lipped smile, staring forwards, seemingly out of the front window of the bus. At least, Roger thought, this dude seemed to be quiet, so an awkward conversation or a mean look seemed unlikely.  
It had been almost three hours now that the last student had entered the packed bus and the long drive to Rogers doom had begun. He didn’t know if to hope, to be there soon or to never arrive. He just felt so weird and like he didn’t belong. He started the nervous habit he had, of tapping his foot or his finger, or sometimes even a combination of both, but it didn’t do anything really to soothe him.  
He realized just how loud his tapping must have been, as the student next to him started to look at him. Roger immediately stopped and resorted to biting his lip nervously. “I didn’t really take you to be the nervous type” The teen in the seat to his left noted with a small, almost cheeky smile on his face. Roger just shrugged, not really confident enough yet to look the other in the eyes. “You don’t have to be though, most of us are nice, well as nice as puberty ridden dudes can be. And the teachers are-” Roger didn’t let this other blonde guy finish. “I’m not nervous though!” He interrupted and stared at his hands. “Right, as you say, anyways, the teachers are great, mostly at least, pretty strict though, so you better do what they tell you to do!” Roger sighed and looked out of the window again. “We still have a few days left before school starts and I’d rather not hear about it now…” He mumbled and followed a bird that flew from one tree to another with his eyes. “Alright, I get it.” The guy answered smiling looking through the front window again. “I’m John, by the way” He then quickly added. Roger looked back over to the still to the front staring kid. “Roger…” He answered with a quick polite smile before turning back to the seemingly never-ending patch of forest.  
The rest of the drive this John guy was quiet, ‘Luckily’ thought Roger. He seemed nice enough, though Roger definitely wasn’t up for talking much at this moment, he just wanted to go home.  
Slowly the forest started to clear up and a huge meadow opened up all around them, in the middle of which stood the huge scary looking school building, surrounded by neatly cut bushes and hedges and quite big gardens, worked on by many gardeners. It almost looked like a royal castle, but Roger felt not royal at all. He proceeded with his nervous habit again, tapping an unknown rhythm on the armrest with his fingers as the building crept closer and in all honesty, Roger still didn’t know if he was happy to finally arrive or if he wanted to jump out of the window.  
Then the bus stopped. Students started to stand up and gather their things, leaving the bus one by one, talking loudly to each other. Roger was so jealous, he knew nothing about this school, was poor and besides John –who now also started gathering his things to get off the bus- he knew no one. How on earth was he ever supposed to fit into this mess?  
“You gonna come?” Roger looked up startled as John spoke. “I mean, I suppose you could stay here, but I doubt that sleeping in this bus is all too comfortable, also you’d miss dinner and that would be a shame now, would it?” Roger hesitantly picked up his backpack, in which he had stuffed two books and some snacks for the drive, which he hadn’t touched, and then followed the other student out of the bus. Two other buses already stood there and two more were just parking and letting out other students. There were a lot of people, but at least Roger didn’t feel like all eyes were on him anymore. The bus drivers opened the luggage departments of the busses, letting the students collect their suitcases. Roger strapped on his backpack and went to the mountain of suitcases to find his own. The student who had been so nice to him had disappeared, so now he was on his own again, having to find his way around. He didn’t know where he had to go, or what to do, looking around nervously.  
All the new fifth graders seemed to be getting called up by a teacher to follow them. Why was there no one there to pick up Roger, how should he know where he was supposed to go, when no one told him, for fuck's sake. As the students, which he recognized from sitting in the same bus as him, started to go towards the school building, he decided to follow them, they would know where to go after all.  
He approached the huge doors, that probably led into an entry hall, slowly. The arch under which he had to pass seeming impossibly high and uninviting. Students that were walking in front of him chatted happily, carelessly, seemingly excited to come back to this place again. Roger definitely couldn’t understand their enthusiasm, it was a school, he himself was never really excited to enter a school, but then again, he had never lived in one before, he guessed if you spent most of your time there it became sort of like a second home to them, but he was pretty sure, for the two years to three years he was going to spend here, he would probably never really feel at home.  
When he got through the huge front door, he was surprised how big and bright the entry hall was. There were two big stairs that formed a slight oval shape, leading to the same balcony, towering over the hall, which lead to three different hallways. On one side was something that looked like a shop, where one could possibly pick up their school uniform from the looks of it, and on the other side there was a seated area with some simple chairs pushed up against a wall and old leather couches, on a red carpet, that had obviously had seen better days once, standing around a coffee table. Exactly in the middle directly under the balcony was a big board, where quite a lot of students were crowded in front of. He could make out that the bigger signs on it stated the grades one could go to at this school. Maybe that would finally tell him where to go. He walked over there, finally feeling a little more confident. He couldn’t get close to it, due to students pressing in front of it, not making space what so ever, rushing to read what each sheet of paper said. He looked to the list of grade ten but the only thing that it said, was when which class was where. The fifth graders had two lists, one with where they were staying and one to tell them about classes. Roger was about to be upset, -how would he ever find out where to go?- When he spotted a list to the far right, stating: “For new students”. There were six or seven names there, including his own. He already felt better, not being the only new student. He quickly read what was written down next to his name.  
Taylor, Roger R102 Corridor A Wing D  
He didn’t know where any of this was, but it was a start, with this information he would surely be able to find out where to go.  
Gradually most students started to leave the hall and Roger decided it would be best to pick up his uniform, leave as well and find out about the rest of the procedures he would still have to go through.  
He was just on his way over to where they were handing out the uniforms he suddenly felt a harsh shove from behind. “Well, looky-here I wasn’t aware, they allowed girls to visit this school, must be one of those equality policy things.” A tall blonde guy with greased back hair chuckled while getting approving looks from his three friends and dirty grins. Roger scowled and crossed his arms. “And I didn’t know they allowed greased up, pompous assholes, like yourself to leave their safe little bubble. I guess you learn things every day” He snapped back, leaving the taller guy quiet for a second. “I was off to get my school uniform then if you don’t mind and funnily enough, it’s not a girl one” He was about to leave when he heard an angry growl from the blond teen. “You better watch it girly! You wouldn’t want it to get nasty…Remember the name Callum Grayston, so you’ll know whom you’ll have to thank for making your life a living hell!” With that remark, that posh jerk turned around, leaving with his friends following him, making threatening gestures. Roger just huffed angrily and rolled his eyes before moving on to finally get his uniform. He knew he didn’t look exactly typically boyish, what with his long blonde hair, big blue eyes and long lashes. He had never really cared about it. Some girls even found it quite attractive on him and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be bullied because of that.  
He got handed the neatly folded, crimson red sleeveless pullover and cardigan both with the school crest, which was a regular crest shape with a cross through the middle, with four little symbols on each side. On the top right there was a bundle of keys, the top left showed an open book, the bottom right depicted two stars and in the bottom left, there was a small ink container with a feather sticking out. Over the top was a banner with the Latin saying: “Ubi Concordia, ibi Victoria” Which Roger had no clue what that meant. The uniform also included black pants that looked way too formal in Rogers opinion and a sports outfit. So that was his daily wear from now on…

Getting the uniform was no problem, the thing that had turned out way trickier than he had initially expected was finding his room. The building turned out to be way too big to easily find your way through it. It was quite tricky not to get lost in the similar looking intertwining hallways. Until he was in wing D alone took him about twenty minutes, since he couldn’t figure out after which order the wings were sorted. Then finding his corridor was quite easy since it was the first one on the upper floor of the wing. Now finding his number wasn’t too hard either but it was quite boring looking concentrated at every sign at every door he passed. It turned out that 101 and 102 were the ones on the very end. Three names were scribbled on a poster that hung on the door: Freddie, John & Brian, drawn underneath it were two fairies, a lion and a crab. There were voices coming from inside the room. He could not make out what was being said, but he could clearly make out the sound of laughing. He took one last deep breath before knocking. He hoped that these guys would be nice, he would never have the strength to deal with people like the ones who tried to tease him earlier over the course of such a long time.  
He heard how the voices inside the room quieted down before the door opened.  
In front of him stood a guy that was slightly smaller than himself, had black hair and dark brown eyes that seemed coy, he also had a strong jaw and bucked teeth that made his smile look really contagious. “Hello dear, we were just talking about you, our John here said, he was positive that he sat next to you in the bus, say, is that true?” Roger hadn’t noticed the nice boy from the bus yet, that sat together with a tall, curly-haired guy on two armchairs that stood at the opposite side of the room, but now that he saw him, he was quite relieved. He nodded and looked back to the guy that had just welcomed him. “Ah, I’m so sorry, where are my manners? Come in, make yourself right at home. I am Freddie and this poodle over there is Brian, you’ve met John already, so there is no need to introduce him, he’s boring anyway” A pillow flew in their general direction, but missed by miles. “Shut up Fred!” he heard John yell and saw him pull a face. “You know I don’t mean it, love” Freddie said with a cheesy smile but then turned back to Roger and provocatively mouthed ‘boring’ once again. “You know I’m not blind right? Wanker!” yelled the other again. “Well however…” Freddie pulled him in and closed the door behind him. “You’ll be sleeping back there next to Brian, it’s the bed right next to the one underneath the window.” Roger nodded and carried his backpack, the package with the school uniform and his suitcase over to the bed, where he was happy to finally put everything down. “So, go on introduce yourself!” Freddie pushed smiling, gesturing to one of the still free armchairs. How rich was this school? Having four armchairs in one room seemed a bit over the top, for Rogers taste, but they looked comfortable enough, so he sat down in the one next to John, Freddie took the last empty one and looked at Roger expectantly. Roger bit his lip shortly and sighed. “Okay so, I am Roger, I am new and I’ll be joining the tenth grade in three days.” He explained before shrugging. Freddie smiled appreciative and now looked as expectant to John as he had looked at Roger before. John looked at him confused and looked first to Brian and then to Roger himself, before he seemed to get it. “Oh, I’m John, we’ve met and I’m also in tenth grade, same as you” He said with a slightly awkward looking smile, Freddie now looked at Brian, who hadn’t spoken at all yet. “Hi Roger, I’m Brian, nice to meet you, I am in the eleventh grade and apparently one of your new roommates.” He topped his sentence off with a content smile before looking at Freddie, to signal that it was his turn next. “Well then, I’m Freddie, as I said, and I am also in the eleventh grade”. There was a short silence in the room before Brian started speaking again. “We have a school meeting later today, we’ll take you with us, we could also show you around, give you a little introduction into all of this here.” He gestured around himself. “We know how harsh it can be, coming somewhere, not knowing anyone, especially if it’s in the middle of graduating high school.” John nodded smiling. “We’re more than happy to help, but just be warned, things in our room can get pretty crazy from time to time.” Roger chuckled a little, for the first time that day. He could kind of imagine how the three of them fought over small things, but made up in the end anyway. “Oh, he can smile after all” John grinned with a sarcastic undertone in his voice, leaving Brian and Freddie chuckling as well.  
They sat together for a while, explaining a bit more about the school, but also about themselves and Roger began to loosen up. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too bad after all.  
After about an hour, they got ready before dressing up in their uniforms and making their way to the auditorium of the school, for which they had to cross one of the gardens. The introduction was horribly boring and uninformative, which left Roger as clueless as before, but luckily now he had his three roommates, who, right after the gathering had ended, showed him around and explained everything thoroughly but still interesting and easy to understand. Afterward, they sat in their room, talking a little longer, before heading to bed.  
Once Roger had snuggled underneath the comfortable sheets he could finally rest for the day. Now he was kind of excited to see what more was to come out of this and if he could maybe become great friends with the three guys he shared his room with. And with a lot of good thoughts, he slowly drifted off into deep sleep, on his first night in his new home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things build up a little and the school band comes into play (I just couldn't help it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back :)  
> So here's the second chapter where things get a little more interesting, though I feel like I rushed a few things.  
> Oh well, after this it'll fall into a little slower pace.  
> Also, I'm sorry for the kind of awkward cut at the end but I wanted to leave it a little more open and I am currently in the process of re-writing the next part since I wasn't really happy with it after reading through it again.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy reading :3

It was crazy how fast time passed once Roger had settled in properly. Before he even knew it, the first week was over. He had quickly found out that his roommates were in a band together, which they were really proud of. They had written a couple of own songs and had done some cover songs, which they performed on school festivities, most students really liked them, making them somewhat of the school intern celebrities. Roger was really happy that they included him so dearly, it made him feel really appreciated and not so lonely anymore. In that one week, he had formed a good friendship with all three of them and they talked as if they had known each other for years prior, though the closest he got to John since besides sharing a room, they also shared classes. John also tried to help him start up contacts to the other classmates and tried to get him out of the role of a newcomer and outsider, which helped a lot. One of the less nice things he had to find out that week, was that the bully, Callum Grayston, that had pushed him on the first day he arrived, was also in his class, together with his weird follower group. He learned from John that this dudes father was apparently a lawyer and to top it off, a lawyer that worked for the school, that was why no one dared to stand up to him, out of fear they could get kicked out of school. Besides that, classes were okay, they weren’t too hard yet, so Roger had no problem following them and he actually started to like some of them, as example, he started to really get into biology. The teacher had a way of teaching that could fascinate and Roger loved it. His previous teachers had all seemed to hate their job and couldn’t really bring the stuff they were supposed to teach to stick in their students’ heads.   
Roger had really gotten interested in the band as well, since he himself lived for music, having played the drums for multiple years now, loving how he could connect with it, so John offered him, that he could watch them rehearse on that Saturday, they would have a small gig soon for a birthday party one of the students had organized and Roger was hyped for it. He had high expectations, from what he had heard and was excited to see if those expectations would be fulfilled.   
He had told his roommates to wake him up, since normally he would sleep in on weekends, but they wanted to go rehearse early.   
He felt some soft pats on his cheeks, slowly getting him out of his deep sleep, back into the real world. He opened his eyes slowly, only to see the tired looking face of Brian smile at him. “Morning sunshine, if you still want to come to practice, now would be the time to stand up” He chuckled slightly, making Roger press a pillow into his face. “Bugger off, May” He grinned while stretching, slowly sitting up. “You’re not even properly dressed yourself” Brian shrugged, placing the pillow next to Roger again. “Fred has been blocking the bathroom for the past 30 minutes and John is already out, getting some breakfast in the cafeteria to bring back to the practice room.” Roger sighed, looking over to the clock on his bedside table, his eyes widening as he saw the time. “It is seven o’clock in the morning on a Saturday, you guys are crazy!” He exclaimed crossing his arms. “The earlier we start, the more time we have and it’s generally better to go relaxed into rehearsing” Brian answered. Roger was about to respond that if he had known how early they would head out, he would have never uttered the wish to come with them, but before he could even open his mouth and the bathroom door opened and Freddie stepped out. “Oh good morning dear, has sleeping beauty finally awoken?” He grinned as he saw Roger sitting on his bed, with Brian kneeling next to it. “It was a marvelous sleep, out of which I have been ripped brutally!” He said crossing his arms, shooting an annoyed glance over to the still kneeling Brian, who rolled his eyes. “I’m going to go and get ready after you took forever. John is probably already in the practice room waiting for us, who knows maybe Elliot is there already as well…” With that, Brian stood up, grabbed the clothes he had put on his bed and disappeared through the door, where Freddie had just come out of. “Well, isn’t he just a sweetheart” Freddie chuckled and put on his shoes.   
Brian didn’t take long to get ready and Roger tried, but nearly took as long as Freddie. But after everyone was done and dressed up for the day they headed out together.   
John and Elliot were there indeed already, drinking coffee and talking. John smiled as they entered. “We thought we would have to practice alone already.” He said, making Brian huff, playing a slight annoyance. “Well, ask our two beauty queens here why that is.” He received a chuckle from Freddie and a harsh smack against the arm from Roger. “Anyway, get your breakfast in and then we’ll start.” John said waving off Brian comment. They ate and then all of them went to their instruments. It suddenly struck Roger that he didn’t even know what part of the Band any of his roommates played, seeing them on their instruments for the first time. He was really fascinated by how good they were when they started to play. Freddie on the piano, with the lead vocals, Brian on the guitar with background vocals and John on the bass guitar. That Elliot dude was on the drums and he was pretty good as well. Roger sat on the table, watching them and listening to them thoroughly, really wishing he could be part of it. The style in which they played was exactly his and he suddenly felt his childhood dream of playing in a band reignite. They played a couple of songs that sounded really good, but then one song came up which made Freddie stop everything in the middle of the song. “Stop! No, Brian, you’re supposed to sing higher than me, or else the harmony won’t work out!” He said, sounding aggravated. “We literally talked about that last time” Brian shrugged “And I told you that I wasn’t able to sing higher, that hasn’t changed in a week, you just need to sing higher to make it work” Brian countered, making Freddie sigh. “Well, I can’t sing that high because it wouldn’t fit in with how I sing the rest of the song.” Both seemed very frustrated. “Well, we have to be able to sing it until next week, and if none of us can sing it higher then we’ll have a real problem, we already promised them a brand new song and to write a new song and practice it in only one week is nearly impossible!” Freddie rubbed over his face stressed before looking at Brian again, who looked just as helpless. “I could try…” Roger chimed in hesitantly. “I’ve sung in a choir for some time.” The eyes of all the band members shot over to Roger, looking slightly thrown aback. “You sing? Why haven’t you told us, dear?” Freddie asked, sounding almost offended. “Well, I didn’t really feel the need to do so, since no one asked and the topic didn’t come up” Roger answered shrugging and jumped down from the table, walking towards the microphone stand, behind which Brian and Freddie stood. “So, should I try to harmonize with you or not?” He asked raising his eyebrows. “Sure, go ahead, the text is over here, we’ll play the full first verse and you’ll just join when Brian does on the ‘Doing alright’ -part, you got that, dears?” Freddie looked over to John and Elliot who both nodded. They started playing the intro, then came the part where Freddie sang on his own, giving Roger time to prepare mentally, he hadn’t properly sung with other people in quite some time and he seriously hoped he would still be able to pull off his high voice. And then the harmonizing part came. Roger took a deep breath and sang in the best high note he could muster with the other two. It didn’t harmonize perfectly, but there was definitely great potential, the others seemed to think so as well because they looked at him surprised. Freddie chuckled a little. “Say, did they chop your balls off in that choir, I don’t think I’ve heard a guy sing as high as you just did, darling!” He received an angry smack on the shoulder from Roger. “Shut up you utter prick, my choir needed someone who could sing falsetto notes and since I had quite the high voice they trained me to it…” he snapped at Freddie as an answer, making the other smile. “However, that’s just great for us, we could try out some other songs and learn how to harmonize together, this is going to be great.”  
And practice they did, the whole weekend was spent with getting their voices in line, trying to get their harmonies on point and teaching Roger all of the songs that contained harmonies.   
On Sunday evening, when they had done most everything up to perfection, they decided to spend the last hours before their curfew, in the beautiful school garden. It was a nice hot summer evening after all. Quite warm and sunny for British standards. They decided to get a few things and meet up by the old lime tree that stood on the far end of the school grounds, behind which the grazing area of a neighboring farm was marked off. John, Elliot and Roger were off getting food and something to drink, while Brian and Freddie wanted to get the picnic blanket from their room, with one or two board games. Soon enough they met up again. Freddie and Brian were already sitting there on the chequered blanket in the slowly growing shadow of the tree. “You’re quite late” Freddie noticed raising one eyebrow. “You try getting food in that damned small cafeteria while almost every student is trying to get their dinner, besides Brian told me you are always late for class, which I would consider being worse” Roger countered, making Brian snicker. “Oh well, at least you brought food so let’s eat, my darlings! I’m starving” Roger, Elliot and John put down everything they brought with them, before sitting down themselves, getting comfy and starting up conversations again. Roger had never been at this part of the school grounds, he liked how quiet it was, completely opposite to the busy hallways and activity rooms in the actual school building. Yes, he did like socializing but it was still nice knowing there were enough possibilities to get out of it all and to hide away when everything was getting a little too busy or stressful. He enjoyed the birds singing and chirping cheerily around them, the sun slowly setting and the warm summer breeze, that blew his hair into his face slightly. He had zoned out a little just listening to his friends talk and joke about random stuff. “Are you sick Rog? You have not talked yet when normally you’d talk non-stop” Brian suddenly said looking at Roger, with a slightly sarcastic, slightly concerned look. “Or have you sung out your voice?” Roger shrugged smiling. “I guess I’m just tired” He then answered. “Then wake up, let’s play something, huh? I didn’t carry these games for nothing” Freddie argued. “They’re not even heavy you bloody drama queen” Brian chuckled and swatted at Freddie’s shoulder. Roger chuckled as well, seeing John and Elliot doing the same. “What game should we even play?” asked John, looking at the options Brian and Freddie had brought. Brian suggested Scrabble and pretty fast the rest had agreed and Elliot set up the board. They started playing but soon the game turned into a real battlefield. “Bullshit! That’s not even a word shithead!” Roger yelled at Elliot who had just laid out the word ‘Blatherskite’. He looked at his roommates for support who just shrugged though. “Yes, it is! And it’s exactly what you are!” Elliot yelled back. “Yeah, and what am I, then?” Roger was about to stand up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He snapped around to see Brian look at him comforting. “It’s okay Rog, let him have it” Roger just shook his head. “You just say that so I won’t win!” He said crossing his arms. He felt a tap on his head and turned towards John who had hit him over the head with the instruction sheet. “Go on, it’s your turn anyway, maybe if you looked you could find where to put a word to get a lot of points.” He urged and Roger glared at him, before looking at his letters and then the playing field. He grinned slightly before laying down six of his seven letters to the word ‘Bachelor’ between the just laid down word ‘Blatherskite’ and the word that John had laid down earlier ‘Radio’ receiving triple letter score as well, receiving 23 points in the end. Cheering he scribbled down the score on their score paper.  
They played for almost two hours until it started getting dark and their curfew was beginning. They collected their stuff, carrying it back inside, then they parted ways, Elliot went to his room and the other four went to theirs. Roger had run into the bathroom before anyone else could, claiming the shower, so he was the first one done. He sat down on his bed in the comfy pajamas and got the dictionary out. “HE SAID I WAS TALKING STUPID GIBBERISH!” He exclaimed angrily. Brian had been so shocked by that, that he had hit his head on the open window, after wanting to pick up Roger’s earlier discarded towel. “Huh?” He asked grimacing while rubbing the back of his head. “Elliot. He called me a blatherskite that stupid wanker! I just looked it up, because it was bothering me” Roger threw the dictionary to the floor, resulting in a loud bang. “Oh calm down Roger, he didn’t mean it.” John chimed in, looking slightly amused by Brian tending to what would possibly become a bump later on. “He probably thinks I am stupid because I don’t come from a rich background like all the rest of you!” Roger raged on, not really listening to what John had just said. “Rog, I think John is right, I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that” Brian now said, closing the window again, putting the towel, he still held in his hand, on Rogers bed, before sitting down on his own. “It was just because you were making a ruckus about it.” Roger threw the towel back on to the floor crossing his arms angrily. In Brian’s eyes, he looked like a pouty five-year-old when he did that. “Oh, so it’s just my fault then? Of course, it’s the stupid poor boy's fault!” Brian sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “Roger you’re not stupid” He answered earnestly, Roger pulled his eyebrows together and bit his lip. “Well, it sure seems like everyone thinks that…” He murmured. “Oh come on, why would you think that?” John asked concerned and leaned against one of the closets that kind of separated the room. “Well, it just is like that, isn’t it?” He said still pouty. “No it isn’t, I sit next to you in class, I see how well you do on the worksheets, not the top of the class, but I can tell you that most people probably do worse than you” John defended him and Brian nodded. “Most kids here aren’t really that smart, they just pretend to be, because they’ve been home-schooled most of their lives until they got here. And Elliot is not mean, he probably was just annoyed you doubted him, I mean he certainly wouldn’t be the only one to get annoyed by something like this.” He explained kneeling down in front of Rogers bed, while John sat down next to him and put an arm around him. “Really? You think so?” Roger asked, his voice still only quiet. “Of course darling.” Freddie chimed in, as he stepped out of the bathroom door, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. “What are we talking about again?” He then asked smiling. “Roger thinks Elliot meant to insult him because he isn’t from a rich family” John explained, earning an angry look from Roger. “Oh dear, drama!” Freddie grinned. “But no really, Elliot is a little snobby sometimes, but I am sure he didn’t mean it, though I have to say, I don’t like him as much as the other guys do” He then added, making Roger sigh. “Alright then… I’ll just take your word for it…” He answered and looked around between the three of his roommates. They were really sweetly taking care of him. They really were great friends. “Thanks” He mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed he threw such a tantrum in front of them, for basically nothing. “It’s alright” John said smiling, patting his shoulder before standing up and going back to his bed again. “It’s my call for the shower now though!” He said, quickly grabbing his own pajamas and going into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Brian sighed. “Oh well then… Guess I’ll have to stay awake even later now…At least John doesn’t take as much time as you two in the shower” He said, standing up. He Patted Rogers knee supportively before going to sit on his bed again, getting out the book he’d been reading for the past week Roger had seen him. Freddie yawned and let himself fall down onto his bed. “Beauty takes its time my dear” he said, winking. “And that’s why I now need my beauty sleep as well, good night darlings” He put the towel he had used to dry his hair on the bedpost and then laid down properly, covering himself in the thin blanket. “G’ Night Fred” Roger smiled and then snuggled against his pillow. Soon enough they could hear Freddie softly snoring. “Well, he must have been really tired.” Brian joked, looking up from his book, smiling at Roger. “I guess so” Roger answered, slightly smiling as well. He was still feeling a little bit beat down by the fact that he had been insulted and by the thought that it could be because of his heritage. Brian seemed to take notice in that, he shot Roger another concerned look. When Roger looked away he heard Brian speak in a soft voice to him “Roger… You’re not stupid and it doesn’t matter where you come from” the blonde shrugged and crossed his arms again. “I know, it’s fine, we’re done with that topic, I don’t care about what Elliot has said or whether he meant it or not” He answered. A silence fell over them for some time. Roger assumed Brian had let go of it and turned around again to lay comfortably. “What happened Rog? It can’t just be because of Elliot!” Roger groaned annoyed. “Bri, I just told you it’s fine!” He snapped at the other, curling up under his covers. “It doesn’t seem like it…” Brian said, his tone of voice sounding frustrated. “But it is! Now I’ll sleep if you don’t mind! Good Night!” That was Rogers last argument, before he turned around, curled up into even more of a ball and closed his eyes. “Good night” He heard Brian’s soft answer. He tried to sleep, he really did, but he simply couldn’t. It took John to get out of the bathroom, Brian to go in and come out again and both of the others to fall asleep, leaving Roger in a deadly silent room, before he could fall asleep himself. Until then he still couldn’t stop thinking about being insulted. The others were right, it sure wasn’t Elliot’s fault, it was the fault of that stupid bully in Roger’s class. That blonde asshole that had seemed to hate Roger with all his might. He never really was bullied before, his confidence had usually kept all bullies away, but now this bastard was there, insulting him or his family any chance he got, He always snapped back, hoping to scare him off and not letting on how much it really affected him. But it did. He felt so small and worthless and now he actually also felt insecure about his looks, which he never had before. He had a really disruptive sleep that night, waking up about once every hour, with thoughts bothering him all the way through.   
As a result, getting up the next morning for school was considerably hard. It wasn’t even his alarm clock that woke him, it was the shock of something cold and wet running down his face and to an extent down his neck. Gasping he sat up, seeing an evilly grinning John standing over him holding a glass. Roger shot him the angriest of glares and boy if looks could kill, poor John would have died a million painful deaths. “What? Don’t look at me like that! I’ve been trying to wake you for the past fifteen minutes straight. We’re going to be late for class if you don’t get your bum out of the bed right now!” John chuckled, raising his hands to his shoulders in a defensive gesture. Roger looked around the room for a while. His body was awake, yet his brain didn’t really catch up with everything. “Why are Freddie and Bri still lazing around then?” Roger croaked, his voice still rough from being so sleepy. “They don’t have class until nine o’clock today” John answered and finally went and put the glass down. “So? Would you please get up now? I don’t like walking into class late” Roger just shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “You could go alone anyways, I mean I am awake now, if I’m late it’s my fault” John had already started slipping on his shoes shaking his head. “Oh I can’t let you do that; the teachers are very sensitive when it comes to tardiness. You shouldn’t build a bad reputation with them in your second week here, might get you into some serious trouble later as well.” Roger sighed defeated and slowly slid to the edge of the bed to get up. “Fine, I’ll be done in 10 minutes… Well, I’ll try at least” And with that, he stood up properly getting his stuff and disappeared in the bathroom. He managed to be done in thirteen minutes, for his standards a new record, especially because he came out of the bathroom, not looking like a complete mess. ‘At least I don’t look half as trashy as I feel.’ He thought to himself, as he tied his shoes, picked up his books for the day and followed John to their first class, which was, to Rogers dismay, English, which he wasn’t bad in, he just disliked the teacher and the stuff he taught them. Why was he obliged to know how Shakespearian English changed into modern English? He didn’t enjoy this what so ever. The rest of his classes were also quite boring and except for his run-in with his favorite bully, nothing too interesting happened. Though when he came back from class he saw that their door sign had been changed. He noticed it immediately. The sign, that had only spelled out three names, now had four and another drawing was added. A second lion stood proudly on the opposite side of the first one. “Looks like the guys have done some work.” John said, simply smiling and patting Rogers' shoulder. Roger couldn’t help but also smile. They had included him in the door sign. They showed that he belonged with them. He stepped in smiling almost shy. When they came in Fred was lying on his bed letting his legs swing from the edge, while he was looking at a fashion magazine and Brian sat in one of the armchairs, his legs crossed over and book in hand while a record was playing in the background. It was quite quiet but Roger recognized it as the Beatles song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. “Oh darlings, you’re back” Freddie greeted, looked up from the magazine and smiled at them. “Roger dear, say, do you like the changes to the door sign? Brian and I looked up your zodiac sign to know what to put on it. We hope you don’t mind” He lilted and Roger smiled back at him. “Oh no I don’t, it looks really nice, thanks” he answered and went over to one of the tables where he put his books and notes down. “It only felt appropriate to change it, I mean, you’re a part of our group now and I couldn’t imagine anyone else would fit any better than you do” Brian added and Rog had to grin, a blush creeping its way on to his cheeks. “Oh stop it, that’s just corny” He answered and Brian laughed a little. “But it’s true, isn’t it? Deaky, Fred? Back me up!” Fred just gave him a small grin and John shrugged, looking to Roger. “Well, he is sort of right, you do fit in with us quite well” Roger just shook his head chuckling. “Alright then, anyhow I’m off to the cafeteria now, I need some kind of food. Anyone care to join me?” The blonde looked around expectantly. “I’m terribly sorry my dear, but I have already eaten and I have to make an important phone call in a minute” Freddie answered grinning happily. “I would, but I promised Will that I’d help him with physics” John answered, looking quite awkward. Roger now turned his gaze to Brian, who now looked up from his book. “I’ll join you in a bit Rog, alright? But I really want to finish this chapter I’m reading first” He answered, smiling softly, a smile that Roger had grown so accustomed to. “Alright, I’ll see you then, I’ll sit at the table in the back, by the window” Brian gave a little nod and Roger made his way down to the cafeteria. The slightly sinking sun shone through the tall windows of the arched hallway, casting long shadows over the floor to the opposite wall. A little while ago Roger hadn’t thought he could ever like a castle, he loved the city and everything modern, but now he thought, that it was actually quite beautiful, it had something romantic to it. He reached the cafeteria and was quite delighted when he noticed, that it was pretty empty. He got a tray and went over to the buffet. He got a few things for himself, a plate of the menus food and a few snacks. And then he also got yogurt for Brian, which he knew the other loved. He guessed he didn’t want a real meal anymore since Freddie had already eaten, that probably meant that Brian had already eaten as well. He thought about what Brian would want to drink if he wanted anything at all, then he turned around and immediately the tray he held was smacked all over his face and torso, covering him in food. “Whoops, didn’t see you there girly” He heard the familiar and highly annoying voice of his bully. He reached out and took a strand of Rogers' hair and twirled it. The strand fell back in place, wet and disgusting and covered in yogurt. “You know what girly? With the white stuff in your hair, you look like a real slut. Fits you” the friends he was with chuckled. Now Roger noticed them for the first time. To his shock, he saw a familiar face with them. Elliot stood half behind the broad blonde bully, chuckling and smirking disgustingly at him. Roger swallowed hard. So he was right about it. Elliot didn’t like him and he called him stupid on purpose while they were playing Scrabble. That’s what they all thought he was, the stupid, poor, dumb, slut. Roger was boiling with anger. He was about to open his mouth when he saw how his bully got pushed away. Out of nowhere, he saw a big head of brown curls rush towards the one he just pushed, grabbing him by the collar. “Leave him alone, you god damn wanker!” He said in an aggressive tone that Roger had never heard on his usually soft and calm friend before. “Oh has Prince Charming come to rescue blondie?” That Grayston kid asked, but now seemed less convincing, his other friends had backed off too. And Roger could see why. Brian was quite intimidating, when he wasn’t all calm and collected, with his height and dark looks. “What did I just tell you Grayston? Leave it! I’m warning you” Roger saw how Callum nervously licked his lips and looked to the side, obviously not admitting his defeat. “And when I let you go, you’ll walk away, you understand? Or is that too much to ask from your stupid little brain?” the blonde brute, who suddenly looked not so tough anymore, kept on looking to the side, which Brian took as an answer. He let go of the other's collar, who in turn fell to the ground. Brian watched with his arms crossed while he stood up and the group left. “And I definitely expected more from you, Elliot!” He yelled after them. Then he turned to Roger, eyes filled with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked in his usual soft tone of voice, reaching for some paper towels and holding them out to Roger and Roger really wanted to say thank you, but he felt embarrassed and the mean comments of the bully had hit deep again and the disappointment in Elliot was there also, it was all too much for him, so he resorted to the thing that had normally gotten him out of embarrassing situations, his attitude. “Jesus Brian, thanks for that, now I’m not only the stupid slutty guy from a family of beggars, no, but I’m also now the stupid slutty guy from a family of beggars that can’t defend himself!” He yelled angrily, placing his hands on his hips to make his point clear. “I didn’t need your fucking help!” and with that he stormed past Brian so the older student couldn’t see the tears that had started to form in his eyes. He ran outside, just to get as far away from other students as possible, not wanting to be taunted even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter.  
> I'll update as soon as I've re-written the next part, which is hopefully going to be next week at the latest.
> 
> I'd appreciate feedback again :)


	3. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small update on how things are going

Hi everyone :3

I am really sorry that I haven't posted in so long.  
I had some problems with school and family, so I had almost no time whatsoever to do anything but study. :/  
It's especially stressful since I will be having end of term exams very soon so my updates will be sparce but I am working on it, the next chapter is almost ready to post so I'm getting there! 

I think I should be able to post in the next three to four days.

I hope I won't disappoint.  
Thank you for your patience :)


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A problem is resolved and Roger and John go on a field trip for a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello you guys,  
> first off, thank you for the patience and encouraging comments, that made me feel way better.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter as well. I tried my best, even though I wasn't completely in the spirit for writing.   
> But now I am back in the good mindset so the next chapter will probably be better again!

He ran outside, just to get as far away from other students as possible, not wanting to be taunted even more. He ran to the tree, where they had played the other day, since it seemed so far off and lonely, which was all he needed right now. He let himself fall to the ground next to it, finally allowing himself to cry. He felt disgusting, the food on him was making his clothes sticky and wet and his hair was sticking to his face, smelling of yoghurt and not feeling soft like usually whatsoever.  
A few minutes later he had managed to calm himself again mostly and only a couple of moments after his last sobs had ceased, he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up and could see a very familiar, tall and lanky student approaching. The last thing he wanted was for the older to see the evidence of only recently faded tears in his eyes and on his face, it would make him look like even more of a girl, he thought, biting his lip, but the older student stood already right on front of him. “Look… Rog… I’m sorry. I just… Well, I wanted to help. I mean that asshole can’t just get away with treating you like this!” He said, kneeling down so he could make eye contact with the smaller blonde, who intentionally turned his face away. “Was that the reason? That you seemed so upset yesterday I mean” He continued asking. Roger felt his heart sink. Brian did seem to really care and it made Roger feel bad for yelling at him earlier. He gave a slight nod and slowly turned his head to face Brian. “Do you… want to talk about it or…?” To that Roger just shrugged and Brian sat down properly in front of him. “I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier…” the blonde admitted quietly, fidgeting with his fingers, still not quite back to his confident self. “It’s alright, I understand” Brian said earnestly and put a comforting hand on Rogers shoulder. “Oh! Would you like some paper towels now? I brought some” he then said pulling out a few of the said paper towels out of his pocket. Roger gratefully took one and cleaned the most off of his face and with a second, some out his hair. With a third one, he tried to get the worst off his uniform. Once he was done, he felt Brian’s concern filled eyes on him, he looked back over to the older boy and tried to think about what to say next. “Why… did you follow me? I… I don’t want to sound mean, just…wondering…I mean, I was like really mean to you…” Brian just gave him a little smile. “As I said, it’s alright and I followed you because I was worried about you. That asshole thinks he can get away with everything.” He gave Roger another reassuring smile and tilted his head slightly. “But today wasn’t the first time he did something like that, was it? How long has this been going on for?” Roger sighed and let his head sink a little, not brave enough to look at Brian. “Since I transferred here…” He answered quietly and heard a shocked gasp from the other. “Why didn’t you tell any of us about that?” Roger shrugged again. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s only been a week after all and even though you guys are really great… I didn’t want to bother you with my sob story, I mean I’m not the only one getting bullied after all, so it’s not even that dramatic.” Brian sighed, lifting his eyebrows. “I don’t care if other students get bullied, it’s horrible either way, you really should have told us, but I’ll make sure he won’t bother you and I’m certain that John and Freddie will do the same, we’ll also decide what’ll happen to Elliot, since I most definitely don’t want him to be anywhere near me anymore” Roger just shrugged again muttering a beat down ‘Thank you’ Brian nodded, leaning back against the tree and looking up through the branches. “Sorry I didn’t believe you about the thing with Elliot, I really did think I knew him well enough.” Roger just shook his head, looking up at Brian, chewing the inside of his cheek. “You couldn’t have known, I tend to over dramatize things and I hadn’t seen him with Callum before, so I just assumed things as well.” He then answered. They shared a moment of comfortable silence, the sun setting behind them tinting everything in a beautiful peach colour. Roger deeply appreciated the concern his friend had shown, it made him feel somewhat better again. It made him feel understood, something that hadn’t really been something he had experienced in his past years.  
He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed he was still staring at the other until Brian turned his head back around to look at Roger again, who turned his head to the side, embarrassed, cheeks turning a slightly darker shade of pink. “But if you make Elliot leave… what about your gig for that birthday gig we’ve been practicing for?” Roger asked to get back on topic, concentrating on fidgeting with his fingers, so he wasn’t able to see the content smile that had formed on Brians lips. “We’ll just have to find a solution. Maybe I’ll put up with him until after the gig. We’ll see. But we’re definitely going to look for a replacement.” He answered, still smiling.  
“Do you think you’ll be okay to go back to school now? I mean you still haven’t eaten yet and it’s getting pretty late.” Brian asked after another couple minutes of silence and Roger nodded slowly. “I… I think I’ll be alright… but I really don’t want to go back to the cafeteria again this evening.” He mumbled, staring off over the large field. “I definitely need a shower though” A small insecure smile danced over Rogers lips as he looked up at Brian again. “Let’s go then! You’ll go to our room and I’ll go and get you something to eat.” Brian quickly got to his feet and held one hand out to Roger, who stared at it for a second before hesitantly taking it, getting pulled up by the other. “Thank you…” Roger muttered, receiving a happy, beaming smile from Brian.  
They walked back over the lawn together. Another group of students were playing soccer, some were reading and some were studying. It was a nice and quiet evening and if Roger hadn’t been so humiliated before, he might have even enjoyed it. To Rogers surprise, no one really cared about him, nobody even gave him as much as a mocking look, nobody seemed to talk about him and nobody seemed to really be aware that he was present, not more than usual anyway, though he could have sworn he would be the schools laughing stock for the next week or so. It was definitely soothing and made Roger feel better than before.  
Brian brought Roger to the staircase that lead to their room, before going off into the other direction to the cafeteria. By then Rogers mood had shifted from insecure and sad to straight up annoyed. He barged through the door, seeing Freddie and John sitting on Johns bed, Freddie was talking really excitedly about something, while John looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. Both of their heads turned when Roger slammed the door shut. Freddie looked at him, expression something between highly amused and confused. “Oh Roger dear, were you too eager to eat your yoghurt or did you get into a food fight?” he asked and Roger shot him a glare that could have killed. “Okay, okay, sorry I asked. Anyhow, where was I?” He turned back to John and proceeded. “Oh right, and then, he gave me his notes and-“ John quickly interrupted him, before he could go on. “Where is Brian? Did he not find you?” Roger sighed. “He’s still in the cafeteria, getting me some food. And I’ll be in the shower now if you don’t mind.” With that, Roger gathered some new clothes and disappeared in the bathroom.

 

Since that incident, four weeks had passed. Brian had announced the problem about Elliot and the bullying. They had come to the conclusion to have Elliot stick around until after the gig and then throw him out of the band.   
The mood at the gig itself was alright but before and after no one really spoke to Elliot and mostly ignored him, only talking over some important things about a song or about the set list. Freddie also threw some snappy comments at him, which didn’t really help the situation, but Roger thought he deserved nothing less.  
After the gig was over and they had made it clear to Elliot that they didn’t want him anywhere near the band anymore they retreated to their room. They did talk a lot that evening, deciding it would be best for the band to stop everything for a while until a fit drummer would be found. Except for that nothing really changed. They had a game night every Friday and Brian and Freddie helped John and Roger study for tests and exams every Wednesday. Well, Brian helped to study. Freddie tried explaining things but most of the times ended up getting stuck on words and giving up after five to ten minutes of stuttering nonsense. Freddie was actually really smart, he just didn’t know how to phrase himself sometimes.  
Life at the school was actually pretty relaxing, now that even Callum didn’t bother Roger anymore, except for sometimes when he threw him some shady looks. Though Roger thought that getting rid of Callum seemed way too easy and that really couldn’t be it, he was glad about not having to deal with him anymore and his confidence was building up again quite fast as well.  
They had started talking about WWII in History class, which they had to prepare presentations for. So the next exciting thing was the field trip that Rogers homeroom would go on. They would go to a WWII museum, located at an important former US Army base and airfield, which had been a normal little village before the war and became one again after the war.  
It was supposed to be fun, a different kind of lesson, but Roger doubted that, since it included standing up at 5 a.m. and how fun would it be if you’d have to ride the bus for about two hours to get there and barely got any sleep the night before. At least he’d have John to keep him company and his mood up.  
It was a struggle anyways. He had had four coffees to help him stay awake and when they sat in the bus, the continuous humming of the engine and the wheels on the street, plus the relaxing view from the window almost made him fall asleep. But only almost, because his classmates were talking loudly and the ones behind him kept kicking or pushing his seat while joking around with each other. Roger had really no clue where they got their energy from. John next to him had actually managed to fall asleep again, bless him, but because of that Roger had to put up with the rest of his classmates, which wasn’t too horrible, but he preferred to talk to his roommate since everyone else was just too loud and active for him that morning.   
But soon Rogers mood lifted when he started up a conversation with the two guys sitting in front of him, Joe and George, who had been talking about one of their teachers and that his grading system was just really unfair and nit-picky. “I mean, did you see what he did to poor Frank? The guy had the tiniest tear in his paper when he handed it over for grading and that asshole gave him a B instead of his well-deserved A” George ranted, receiving an agreeing nod from both Roger and Joe. “But that’s nothing compared to what Mr.Soler did to me last term. He almost gave me a D on my final exam because I forgot to put in maybe two commas, even though I deserved a C, but when I threatened to take this to the counselor, he luckily gave me the C.” Roger huffed at that. “Wow, I mean I knew he was an asshole, but I didn’t think he was an idiotic one. I swear, if he tries to pull off something like that with me, I’m gonna make his life as a teacher a living hell before reporting him.” Both Joe and George laughed at that.   
They changed topics multiple times over the next hour or so, talking about school, about their home towns about basically anything that came to their minds until George spotted a sign through the window. “Hey look, guys, Upottery, isn’t that what the teachers told us this village was called?” George stood up looking through the bus while copying a flight attendants tone of voice. “Ladies and gentleman, we’re about to arrive at our destination, please make sure to stay in your seats until we have fully come to a stop, as we start to descend into field trip hell, please also make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their upright position. You might want to check if your neighbour is awake, if that’s not the case, now’s your chance to scare them. Thank you for traveling with suckmyass airlines and prepare for a boring day!” Some of the guys cheered, some of them laughed, especially when the teacher in the front seat stood up glaring at George, who just gave him the nastiest grin and sat down again. It didn’t take long for the bus to stop after George had made his announcement. Many of the guys had followed it, scaring their sleeping seat neighbours, resulting in a loud commotion in the bus, which eventually woke up John as well.   
They all got out and were sorted into groups of fours. Roger was lucky enough to get into a group with John, also Joe was there, but sadly George had been put into a different group, instead, there was this guy called David. Roger hadn’t really talked to David before, he was one of the smart guys in class, always reading and always getting the good grades. Apparently, Joe knew him well though.   
They were let into the museum with the task to find a good topic to hold a presentation on and then research it and gather a lot of information.   
While David was looking around the museum, Joe, John and Roger were joking around, but Roger couldn’t help but notice the looks that David was throwing at them, especially at Joe. After having his look around David decided that they should use the topic “Life at the front line” and since none of the other guys had really looked at anything except for some of the cool exhibition pieces, like uniforms and weapons, none of them had anything against it. “I don’t want to do all of the work alone though guys, Joe you’ll help me write down the most important things. And for you two, I don’t mind what you do now, but you’ll develop the presentation once we get back to school.” David declared, making Joe sigh annoyed. “Alright then… see you guys later I guess” He mumbled, before walking over to David. Though as soon as he was sitting next to David on the bench in front of the wall of text that described every last detail of what the life at the front line was like, he didn’t seem to be so annoyed after all. Roger and John went on chuckling. “What’s the deal with these two?” Roger asked after being far enough so they couldn’t hear him anymore, but John just shrugged. “No one knows, apparently they were best friends once, but something happened and they suddenly completely stopped hanging out with each other. Joe claims he hates David, but everyone with a pair of eyes can see that that’s a blatant lie, but I honestly don’t care much about it either, it’s just funny to see them bicker. It’s almost like you and Bri” Roger scowled at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked almost sounding offended, making John chuckle. “I’m just saying, you and Brian bicker a lot as well and it’s hilarious to watch, but watching you two bicker is even funnier because I know you better and the topics you bicker about can be really petty” Roger just huffed and shrugged. “Well, whatever, petty or not, he can’t always be right and I’m just there to show him that” John grinned but just nodded. “Of course. But you know Brian lets you win most of the arguments, right?” Roger raised his eyebrows. “Yeah right. As if.” Roger was confident in his ability to shoot people down, no way Brian would be any better than him in that. “What? Have you not heard him argue with Freddie or me? He always has the best points. Freddie always likes to act as if he won the argument but we all know that’s not really what happened. For some reason, he does let you win though.” Roger wanted to answer something, but couldn’t really find any words, so he just crossed his arms, thinking back on some of the arguments he and Brian had, compared to the arguments Brian had with John or Freddie. Maybe John was right after all… He felt a blush creep onto his cheeks and quickly looked away. “Whatever…I’d be able to win without him letting me win…” John just shook his head and looped his arm around Rogers shoulders. “Sure you would”  
They ended up outside, on the old airfield, sitting on a bench. They had gotten back to one of their favourite topics at the moment: The Band. “You know, I wanted to be in a band since I was a child, but I never really thought I’d be in one, so I never really pursued it. It’s great to have that opportunity now, but I don’t know if I could ever be as involved in it as you guys, I mean I’d love to but my father always said that music is a fruitless art, he’d never wanted me doing anything like that. I mean it didn’t really bother me before, I even practiced to play the drums for a while, but I think if he realised that I was in a band now, he’d surely pull me from that school and I really wouldn’t want to transfer anywhere else, now that I know you guys.” John did a double take at that. “Hold on… You play the drums? Why haven’t you told us?” He asked accusing and Roger frowned. “I’ve just told you, I don’t want to play such a significant part since I really don’t want to transfer again.” John shrugged, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. “No one outside of our school would have to know, but if you’re any good you’d be the perfect fit! You have to audition!” Roger bit his lip, obviously thinking hard about the decision. “Give me some time to think about it alright? And don’t tell the others about it yet!” He then answered. John nodded briefly sinking back into the bench. “Anyways… I wanted to ask you… Brian is a really good guitar player and I am really interested in learning that as well, do you think…Do you think he’d show me how to play?” Johns mood immediately seemed to lighten up again, as he was smiling widely. “Oh, I’m sure he would love to show you. You’ve got to ask him as soon as we get back to school!” Roger lowered his head smiling a little, while nodding. “Alright… I will.”  
They kept talking about music, what their favourite artists and inspirations were, what genres they listened to and the general reason why they loved music so much. It was nice to spend some time like that with John, Roger realised they should hang out without the others more often, since they had a pretty similar kind of humour, except that John just didn’t show it as much as Roger. And another attribute that Roger appreciated was that John was so calm most of the time, which was a great contrast to his own character.  
Though their conversation was interrupted way too soon, as a teacher came by, collecting them to get back onto the bus to be back home in time for lunch. But still Roger was excited to get back, maybe if he was in luck, he’d soon have guitar lessons from the best student guitarist he was aware of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter :3  
> I'm sorry if it was disappointing because not all that much happened, but the next chapter will be a bit fluffy and possibly include a guitar lesson.   
> Also, John might've not kept his promise.  
> We'll see.
> 
> Hopefully see you next time :)


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